Cantata Collective Program 5

September 23, 2018

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

 

Excerpts from Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12

1. Sinfonia
2. Recitative: Wir Müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich
3. Aria: Kreuz und Krone sind verbunden

Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169

1. Sinfonia
2. Arioso and Recitative: Gott soll allein mein Herze haben
3. Aria: Gott soll allein mein Herze haben
4. Recitative: Was ist die Liebe Gottes?
5. Aria: Stirb in mir
6. Recitative: Doch meint es auch dabei
7. Chorale: Du süsse Liebe, schenk uns deine Gunst


Reginald Mobley, Alto
Marc Schachman & Michael Dupree, oboe
Kati Kyme & Lisa Weiss, violins
Anthony Martin & Linda Quan, viola
William Skeen, cello
Kristin Zoernig, bass
Edward Murray, organ

Reginald Mobley, Guest Artist

Countertenor Reginald Mobley fully intended to speak his art through watercolors and oil pastels until circumstance demanded that his own voice should speak for itself. Since reducing his visual color palette to the black and white of a score, he has endeavored to open a wider spectrum onstage.

Particularly noted for his “crystalline diction and pure, evenly produced tone” (Miami Herald), as well as “elaborate and inventive ornamentation” (South Florida Classical Review), Reggie is rapidly making a name for himself as soloist in Baroque, Classical, and modern repertory. His natural and preferred habitat as a soloist is within the works of Bach, Charpentier, Handel, Purcell, as well as other well-known Baroque Period mainstays. Not to be undone by a strict diet of cantatas, odes, and oratorios, Reggie finds himself equally comfortable in repertory of later periods and genres, such as Haydn’s Theresienmesse, Mozart’s Requiem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He has also performed the title role of “Paris” in the Florida premiere of John Eccles’ Judgment of Paris, under the direction of Anthony Rooley and Evelyn Tubb.

A longtime member of the twice GRAMMY® nominated Miami based professional vocal ensemble, Seraphic Fire, Reggie has had the privilege also to lend his talents to other ensembles in the US and abroad, such as the Dartmouth Handel Society, Apollo’s Fire, Vox Early Music, Portland Baroque Orchestra, North Carolina Baroque Ensemble, Ensemble VIII, San Antonio Symphony, Early Music Vancouver and Symphony Nova Scotia under direction of Alexander Weimann, and the Oregon Bach Festival under the direction of Matthew Halls.

Not to be held to conventional countertenor repertoire, the “Barn-burning, [...]phenomenal” male alto has a fair amount of non-classical work under his belt. Not long after becoming a countertenor, he was engaged to sing in several musical theatre productions in a principal or secondary role. Most notable among them was the titular role in Rupert Holmes’ Mystery of Edwin Drood, and as “Jacey Squires” in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. In addition to his work in musical theatre, he has performed many cabaret shows and sets of jazz standards and torch songs in jazz clubs in and around Tokyo, Japan.

Reggie studied voice at the University of Florida with Jean Ronald LaFond, and Florida State University with Roy Delp.

Bach Cantata Translations

 

BWV 12 - "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen"

Cantata for Jubilate
1. Sinfonia 1. Sinfonia
2. Recitativ (Arioso) A
Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen. (Acts 14:22)
2. Recitative (Arioso) A
We must enter the Kingdom of God through much sorrow.
3. Arie A
Kreuz und Krone sind verbunden,
Kampf und Kleinod sind vereint.
Christen haben alle Stunden
Ihre Qual und ihren Feind,
Doch ihr Trost sind Christi Wunden.
3. Aria A
Cross and crown are bound together,
struggle and reward are united.
Christians have at all times
their suffering and their enemy,
yet their comforts are Christ's wounds.
©Pamela Dellal
 

BWV 169 - "Gott soll allein mein Herze haben"

Cantata for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
1. Sinfonia 1. Sinfonia
2. Arioso und Rezitativ A
Gott soll allein mein Herze haben.
Zwar merk ich an der Welt,
Die ihren Kot unschätzbar hält,
Weil sie so freundlich mit mir tut,
Sie wollte gern allein
Das Liebste meiner Seele sein.
Doch nein; Gott soll allein mein Herze haben:
Ich find in ihm das höchste Gut. Wir sehen zwar
Auf Erden hier und dar
Ein Bächlein der Zufriedenheit,
Das von des Höchsten Güte quillet;
Gott aber ist der Quell, mit Strömen angefüllet,
Da schöpf ich, was mich allezeit
Kann sattsam und wahrhaftig laben: Gott soll allein mein Herze haben.
2. Arioso and Recitative A
God alone shall have my heart.
Indeed I observe of the world,
which holds its dung as priceless,
since it treats me with such friendliness,
that it would like to be
the only beloved of my soul.
But no; God alone shall have my heart:
I find in Him the highest good. We see indeed
here and there on earth
a little brook of peacefulness,
which springs from the goodness of the Highest;
God however is the source, overflowing with streams,
there I create what forever
can nourish me truly and satisfyingly: God alone shall have my heart.
3. Arie A
Gott soll allein mein Herze haben.
Ich find in ihm das höchste Gut.
  Er liebt mich in der bösen Zeit
  Und will mich in der Seligkeit
  Mit Gütern seines Hauses laben.
3. Aria A
God alone shall have my heart.
I find in Him the highest Good.
  He loves me during evil times
  and in blissfulness
  He will shower me with the goodness of His house.
4. Rezitativ A
Was ist die Liebe Gottes?
Des Geistes Ruh,
Der Sinnen Lustgenieß,
Der Seele Paradies.
Sie schließt die Hölle zu,
Den Himmel aber auf;
Sie ist Elias Wagen,
Da werden wir im Himmel nauf
In Abrahms Schoß getragen.
4. Recitative A
What is the love of God?
The rest of the spirit,
the delightful pleasure of the mind,
the paradise of the soul.
It closes off hell,
and opens heaven;
it is the chariot of Elijah,
which will bear us up to heaven
into the bosom of Abraham.
5. Arie A
Stirb in mir,
Welt und alle deine Liebe,
Daß die Brust
Sich auf Erden für und für
In der Liebe Gottes übe;
Stirb in mir,
Hoffart, Reichtum, Augenlust,
Ihr verworfnen Fleischestriebe!
5. Aria A
Die in me,
world and all your love,
so that my breast
for ever and ever on earth
becomes practised in the love of God;
die in me,
arrogance, riches, greed,
you rejected urges of the flesh!
6. Rezitativ A
Doch meint es auch dabei
Mit eurem Nächsten treu!
Denn so steht in der Schrift geschrieben:
Du sollst Gott und den Nächsten lieben.
6. Recitative A
Yet also keep in mind
to be faithful to your neighbor!
For thus it is written in the Scriptures:
you shall love God and your neighbor.
7. Choral
Du süße Liebe, schenk uns deine Gunst,
Laß uns emphfinden der Liebe Brunst,
Daß wir uns von Herzen einander lieben
Und in Friede auf einem Sinn bleiben.
Kyrie eleis.
("Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist," verse 3)
7. Chorale
O sweet love, bestow your favor on us,
let us feel the fervor of love,
so that we might love each other from our hearts
and remain of one mind in peace.
Kyrie eleison.
Christoph Birkmann; "Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist," verse 3: Martin Luther 1524 (mov't. 7)
©Pamela Dellal

Texts and Translations courtesy of Pamela Dellal, Emmanuel Music